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Jackson To Release Video Of Journalist

Michael Jackson is set to release a video of the journalist who made a controversial TV documentary about the King of Pop, showing the reporter praising Jackson's skills as a parent. Jackson last week

Michael Jackson is set to release a video of the journalist who made a controversial TV documentary about the King of Pop, showing the reporter praising Jackson's skills as a parent. Jackson last week said he felt "more betrayed than perhaps ever before" by journalist Martin Bashir, who expressed concern about Jackson's treatment of his three children in voice-overs in the documentary.

The TV film showed the infamous footage of Jackson dangling his infant son over the fourth-floor balcony of a hotel in Berlin. The 90-minute program also caused controversy because Jackson said he sometimes lets children sleep in his bed.

A statement released in London on Jackson's behalf late yesterday (Feb. 9) said Bashir was filmed during the making of the documentary. "The film shows extraordinary scenes of Martin Bashir praising the way Michael treats children and commenting on how good a father he is," the statement said.

"In his film, Bashir says that it was in Berlin that he began to change his mind about Michael's treatment of his children. Yet, the Jackson footage clearly shows that Bashir was actually continuing to praise Michael's abilities as a father and Bashir making many statements about how he feels it is a pity that the world is so quick to criticize Michael," the statement said.

Jackson's British-based lawyer said the video, no more than five minutes long, would be released within 24 hours, Britain's Press Association reported.

In the statement, Jackson again denied that he molested a boy who had stayed at his home in 1993. No charges were filed at the time and Jackson reached a financial settlement with the boy's family. "I have never, and would never, harm a child. It sickens me that people have written things that portray me as a child abuser," Jackson was quoted as saying. The statement added that Jackson chose to pay a "considerable" settlement to the boy's family "to avoid being subjected to a media circus."

In the Bashir documentary, Jackson said he had slept in a bed with "many children," including actor Macaulay Culkin and his brother, Kieran. "When you say 'bed,' you're thinking sexual," the singer said. "It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in. ... It's very charming, it's very sweet."

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